Tilt-shift photography is a method of fooling the eye to make real photos appear as though they are of miniaturised scenes. The effect can be achieved by using specialized lenses or digital manipulation and exploits the fact that objects very close to the eye have a very narrow field of focus – if you blur the top and bottom of a standard photo the effect becomes apparent.
This page illustrates 50 examples of the effect – many of these are hard to imagine as real scenes.
A collection of stunning photos on the National Geographic website featuring flowers, cacti, moss, etc displaying the intricate patterns and vivid coklours seen in nature
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Free mobile apps which use third-party services to display advertising consume considerably more battery life, a new study suggests. Findings suggested that in one case 75% of an app’s energy consumption was spent on powering advertisements.
In the case of Angry Birds, research suggested that only 20% of the total energy consumption was used to actually play the game itself. Of the rest, 45% is used finding out your location with which it can serve targeted advertising. This is partly due to the fact that many apps leave connections open for up to 10 seconds after downloading information.
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Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner leapt from a balloon-borne capsule 22km above New Mexico, landing safely eight minutes later in a test run of his up-coming attempted world-record 36km high jump.
If successful in his attempt later this year he would beat the record jump set by US Air Force Colonel Joe Kittinger in 1960.
Baumgartner, who is famous for stunts such as jumping off the Petronas Towers, tested the special pressure suit he must wear to stay alive in the thin air and extreme cold of the stratosphere. The 42-year-old was quoted afterwards as saying that the cold was hard to handle. “I could hardly move my hands. We’re going to have to do some work on that aspect,” he said.
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The annual TED festival has just taken place in California. This article lists 10 ideas to emerge from the conference that might help us to shape a better world, including liquid metal batteries for the storage of renewable energy, “nano quadrotors” – described as “autonomous agile aerial robots” resembling a swarm of insects as seen in this video and the thoughts of the youngest person to build a nuclear reactor on what he thinks is the power of the future.
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These newly-introduced ultra-cheap mini-computers may find a new role bringing secure communications to those who need it most.
They can be used as servers running a new open-source secure chat program which, unlike most other often-used chat software (Google and Facebook for example), allows for encrypted instant messaging.
The developer of the software envisages its use, in combination with the Raspberry Pis, in developing secure communication networks in regions where free speech is otherwise difficult to achieve.
Read the complete article here
Some new photos have been added to the geology stock photo website geoscience-stock-images. The new photos are all by the British-based geologist Alan Holiday.
Pictures include coastal British landscapes – particularly Dorset (e.g. Brandy Bay, Gad Cliff, Old Harry Rocks), geological exposures including structures and volcanism and fossils, both British and Australian.
All images on the site are available for purchase on-line. Prices are highly competitive compared to other stock photo agencies.
This article aimed at students has a list of 10 ways of making a little extra cash, especially useful in the light of the rise in tuition fees. Ideas include becoming a secret shopper, selling old stuff on E-Bay, dog walking, extra work, etc.
A bit on the side…: Clever ways to make money
Some ideas of use to the rest of us non-students too.